Purchase order approval process improvement through electronic workflow project implementation

This article deals with main business process improvement approaches applied by companies to increase their competitiveness. Nowadays effective business processes are becoming competitive advantages and core factor of companies’ success being able to address external threats. Unfortunately, few companies pay special attention to the core business processes improvement initiatives as there are the following obstacles the management may face: the absence of comprehensive approach to process management, lack of resources, infrastructure, red tape, improper expertise and lack of innovation. The author analyzes the successful example of project improvement for purchase order workflow with the implementation of e-document system. The author reviews not only advantages of project implementation but the problems any company may face on the way of business process improvement. Moreover, the author concludes that companies aimed at long-term success should take on the comprehensive approach covering not only business process improvement methodology but project management expertise.

business process, process improvement approaches, benchmarking, reengineering, process improvement, project, approval of purchase order, e-workflow